15  Hear and give ear; be not proud,

for the Lord has spoken.

16  ^fGive glory to the Lord your God

^gbefore he brings darkness,

before your feet stumble

on the twilight mountains,

and ^gwhile you look for light

he turns it into gloom

and makes it ^hdeep darkness.

17  But if you will not listen,

ⁱmy soul will weep in secret for your pride;

my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears,

because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive.

18  Say to ^jthe king and ^jthe queen mother:

“Take a lowly seat,

for ^kyour beautiful crown

has come down from your head.”

19  ^lThe cities of the Negeb are shut up,

with none to open them;

all Judah is taken into exile,

wholly taken into exile.

20  “Lift up your eyes ^mand see

those who come from the north.

Where is the flock that was given you,

your beautiful flock?

21  What will you say when they set as head over you

those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?

ⁿWill not pangs take hold of you

like those of a woman in labor?

22  And if you say in your heart,

^o‘Why have these things come upon me?’

it is for the greatness of your iniquity

that ^pyour skirts are lifted up

and you suffer violence.

23  ^qCan the Ethiopian change his skin

or ^qthe leopard his spots?

Then also you can do good

who are accustomed to do evil.

24  I will scatter you^{1 r}like chaff

driven by the wind from the desert.

25  ^sThis is your lot,

the portion I have measured out to you, declares the Lord,

because ^tyou have forgotten me

and trusted in lies.

26  ^pI myself will lift up your skirts over your face,

and your shame will be seen.

27  I have seen ^uyour abominations,

your adulteries and ^vneighings, your lewd whorings,

^won the hills in the field.

Woe to you, O Jerusalem!

How long will it be ^xbefore you are made clean?”

“‘You are like Gilead to me,

like the summit of ^eLebanon,

yet surely I will make you a desert,

^fan uninhabited city.¹

7  ^gI will prepare destroyers against you,

each with his weapons,

^hand they shall cut down your choicest cedars

and cast them into the fire.

10  ^kWeep not for him who is dead,

nor grieve for him,

^lbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,

for he shall return no more

to see his native land.

13  ⁿ“Woe to him who builds his house by ^ounrighteousness,

and his upper rooms by injustice,

^pwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing

and does not give him his wages,

14  who says, ‘I will build myself a great house

with spacious upper rooms,’

who cuts out windows for it,

paneling it with cedar

and ^qpainting it with vermilion.

15  Do you think you are a king

because you compete in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

and ^rdo justice and righteousness?

^sThen it was well with him.

16  ^tHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;

^sthen it was well.

Is not this ^uto know me?

declares the Lord.

17  But you have eyes and heart

only for your dishonest gain,

^vfor shedding innocent blood,

and for practicing oppression and violence.”

^w“They shall not lament for him, saying,

^x‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’

They shall not lament for him, saying,

^y‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’

19  With the burial of a donkey ^zhe shall be buried,

dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

20  “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,

and lift up your voice in Bashan;

cry out from ^aAbarim,

for all ^byour lovers are destroyed.

21  I spoke to you in your prosperity,

but you said, ‘I will not listen.’

^cThis has been your way from ^dyour youth,

that you have not obeyed my voice.

22  ^eThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,

and ^byour lovers shall go into captivity;

^fthen you will be ashamed and confounded

because of all your evil.

23  O inhabitant of ^gLebanon,

nested among the cedars,

how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,

^hpain as of a woman in labor!”

28  Is this man ^oConiah a despised, broken pot,

a ^pvessel no one cares for?

Why are he and his children hurled and cast

into a ^qland that they do not know?

29  ^rO land, land, land,

hear the word of the Lord!

30  Thus says the Lord:

“Write this man down as ^schildless,

a man who shall not succeed in his days,

^tfor none of his offspring shall succeed

^tin sitting on the throne of David

and ruling again in Judah.”

“Has Israel no sons?

Has he no heir?

Why then has ^bMilcom^{1 c}dispossessed Gad,

and his people settled in its cities?

2  Therefore, behold, the days are coming,

declares the Lord,

when I will cause ^dthe battle cry to be heard

against ^eRabbah of the Ammonites;

it shall become a desolate ^fmound,

and its villages shall be burned with fire;

then Israel shall dispossess those who dispossessed him,

says the Lord.

3  “Wail, O ^gHeshbon, for Ai is laid waste!

Cry out, O daughters of ^eRabbah!

^hPut on sackcloth,

lament, and run to and fro among the hedges!

For ⁱMilcom shall go into exile,

^jwith his priests and his officials.

4  Why do you boast of your valleys,²

^kO faithless daughter,

^lwho trusted in her treasures, saying,

‘Who will come against me?’

5  Behold, ^mI will bring terror upon you,

declares the Lord God of hosts,

from all who are around you,

and you shall be driven out, every man straight before him,

with none to gather the fugitives.

^p“Is wisdom no more in ^pTeman?

^qHas counsel perished from the prudent?

^qHas their wisdom vanished?

8  ^rFlee, turn back, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of ^sDedan!

For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,

^tthe time when I punish him.

9  ^uIf grape gatherers came to you,

would they not leave ^vgleanings?

^uIf thieves came by night,

would they not destroy only enough for themselves?

10  ^wBut I have stripped Esau bare;

^uI have uncovered his hiding places,

and he is not able to conceal himself.

His children are destroyed, and his brothers,

and his neighbors; and ^xhe is no more.

11  ^yLeave your fatherless children; I will keep them alive;

^yand let your widows trust in me.”

14  ^eI have heard a message from the Lord,

and an envoy has been sent among the nations:

^f“Gather yourselves together and come against her,

and rise up for battle!

15  For behold, I will make you small among the nations,

despised among mankind.

16  The horror you inspire has deceived you,

and the pride of your heart,

you who live in the clefts of the rock,³

who hold the height of the hill.

Though you ^gmake your nest as high as the eagle’s,

I will bring you down from there,

declares the Lord.

^a“Hamath and ^bArpad are confounded,

for they have heard bad news;

they melt in fear,

^cthey are troubled like the sea that cannot be quiet.

24  ^zDamascus has become feeble, ^dshe turned to flee,

and panic seized her;

anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her,

as ^yof a woman in labor.

25  How is ^ethe famous city not forsaken,

the city of my joy?

26  ^fTherefore her young men shall fall in her squares,

and all her soldiers shall be destroyed in that day,

declares the Lord of hosts.

27  And ^gI will kindle a fire in the wall of ^zDamascus,

and it shall devour the strongholds of ^hBen-hadad.”

Thus says the Lord:

^j“Rise up, advance against ⁱKedar!

Destroy ^kthe people of the east!

29  ^lTheir tents and their flocks shall be taken,

their ^lcurtains and all their goods;

their camels shall be led away from them,

and men shall cry to them: ^m‘Terror on every side!’

30  ⁿFlee, wander far away, dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor!

declares the Lord.

For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon

has made a plan against you

and formed a purpose against you.

31  ^j“Rise up, advance against a nation ^oat ease,

^pthat dwells securely,

declares the Lord,

^pthat has no gates or bars,

that dwells alone.

32  ^qTheir camels shall become plunder,

their herds of livestock a spoil.

^rI will scatter to every wind

^sthose who cut the corners of their hair,

and I will bring their calamity

from every side of them,

declares the Lord.

33  Hazor shall become ^ta haunt of jackals,

an everlasting waste;

^uno man shall dwell there;

^uno man shall sojourn in her.”

^b“Today, if you hear his voice,

8  do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

on the day of testing in the wilderness,

9  where your fathers put me to the test

and saw my works for ^cforty years.

10  Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;

they have not known my ways.’

11  ^dAs I swore in my wrath,

‘They shall not enter my rest.’”

^b“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”